The Royal Ballet welcomes five dancers to the Company for the 2014/15 Season as part of the new Aud Jebsen Young Dancers Programme. The programme provides an opportunity for up to six recently graduated dancers to receive a year’s contract to work alongside the corps de ballet of The Royal Ballet. In addition the dancers will be offered mentoring and coaching and have the opportunity to perform with the Company. This year’s Aud Jebsen Young Dancers are Grace Blundell and Grace Horler, both from The Royal Ballet School, Ashley Scott and Ashleigh McKimmie from English National Ballet School and Maria Barroso from Semperoper Ballet, Dresden.

David Navarro Yudes joins the Company as a Prix de Lausanne Dancer for the 2014/15 Season.

Soloist Iohna Loots left the Company mid-season, and Soloist Kenta Kura retires from the Company after 17 years to take up a new appointment as Boys’ Artistic Teacher at White Lodge, the Royal Ballet Junior School. Kenta is a graduate of The Royal Ballet School's Professional Dancer’s Teachers Course (PDTC).

First Artist Leanne Cope will take a sabbatical for the 2014/15 Season to play the part of Lise Dassin in An American in Paris, directed and choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon, Artistic Associate of The Royal Ballet. An American in Paris receives its world premiere in December at the Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris and transfers to Broadway in spring 2015.

The LUKAS awards, which are now in their third year, celebrate the culture of Latin American, Spanish and Portuguese communities in the UK. They are decided in part by a public vote. This year, around 1,200 people were nominated for a total of 65 awards; Fernando was nominated alongside fellow Royal Ballet Dancers Thiago Soares and Marianela Nuñez.

The LUKAS awards, which are now in their third year, celebrate the culture of Latin American, Spanish and Portuguese communities in the UK. This year, around 1,200 people were nominated for a total of 65 awards.

Royal Ballet dancers Fernando Montaño and Carlos Acosta have been honoured at this year's LUKAS Awards. The awards celebrate Spanish, Latin American and Portuguese culture in the UK and are decided by a series of public votes.

Fernando won the award for Personality of the Year and was presented with the prize by Vivienne Westwood during the ceremony at Café de Paris in London. Originally from the Colombian coastal port of Buenaventura, he has been a First Artist with The Royal Ballet since 2010.

Carlos received a lifetime achievement award, presented by Director of English National Ballet Tamara Rojo, who he partnered for numerous Royal Ballet performances.

'We wanted to recognize the fact that Carlos has not only been an inspiration for Latin Americans in the UK, but has paved the way for a new generation of dancers from Latin America and from all ethnic communities in the UK,' said Amaranta Wright, Executive Director of LUKAS. 'His contribution to the world of ballet is unparalleled.'

Carlos, who has been performing as Principal Guest Artist at Covent Garden since 2003, will direct a new production of Don Quixote next Season. His debut novel, Pig’s Foot, was recently tipped for success when named as one of The Waterstones Eleven.

The awards, now in their second year, celebrate the culture of Latin American, Spanish and Portuguese communities in the UK.

Fernando, originally from Colombia, has been a First Artist with The Royal Ballet since 2010, and has danced a wide range of works, ranging from the role of the Jester in Frederick Ashton's Cinderella, to the role of the Caterpillar in Christopher Wheeldon’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

For the next three months, nominees are put to the public vote: the primary round of voting runs until 15 January, following which the top five most voted nominees enter a second round, which closes on 15 February.

The winners will be announced during a celebratory Gala Ceremony, described by Carlos Acosta as “the most sought after annual Latino event”.